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Republican Party And The South

Republican Party And The South image
Parent Issue
Day
5
Month
June
Year
1874
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

From the New ï ork Times. Mr. Eaton the newly-elected Senator of Connecticut, receutly delivered an address to his fellow citizens, in which he referred in a general way to his politica! opinions. These opinión are airead y tolerably woll known to everybody who has followed the courso ot' politics with atiy attention, and it does not seem very probable that Mr. Eaton will change in them. He declared that ho isnow, " and always has been, and always would be, a State rights Deruocrat of the old Jeffersoniau school. He said also : " First, first, first tho State of Connecticut, and then the Federal Uuion," which, of course, is essentially the position formerly taken by men like General Ijoo. " I hall try," added Mr. Eaton, " to take away the Federal bayonets from our brothers in the South, so that every State in thU land shall have the samo right of local government and tho same exorciso of it as our own State." The " rcgulation " way of answering all this is to stick a laDel on Mr. Eaton's back certifying that he is a Bourbon and a copperhead, and cali attention to the fact that ho was by no means " sound " on national issues duriug the war. But even after all this had boen dono thore would still remain a question iu the background which will have to bo met fairly in the face ome day or other. The extreme length to which State rights theories were pushed in 1800 and 1861 brougt about a reaction, and that roaction bas brought many people to think that State rights belong to the dead and-gone class of questions, and that any man who talks about State rights is sufficiontly answered when he is called a Bourbon. It is unnocessary to say to any intelligent reader that this view is a vtjry shallow one, and that tho rights of States to govern themselves is as dear to the poople as ever it was. And it ought to be dear to them, for when they abandon it they will have utterly forsaken the system of government established under the Federeral Conititution. They many set up something else in its place which may be called by any name that may please the persons then living ; but it will not be the government designed by the founders of the Constitution. It may be a civil policy based upon parliamentary rule, but it will no longer be a constitutional republio such as we have seen here for nearly one hundred years. We sar, thon, that when Mr. Eaton talks of the necessity of maintaining State rights, and of giving the citizens of South Carolina" the same freedom whioh the citizens of Connecticut enjoy, it is not enough to allege that he is a " copperhead," and to fling at him the raissiles which darkened the air botween 1861 and 1865. If the citizens of the South are living in a stato of oppression, Mr. Eaton is right in calling attentiou to thnir situation ; if they are eufferiiig from injustice, the nation at large will never tolérate its continuance, and, tberefore, the sooner the injustice is redressed the better. All such questions as these should be dealt with frankly. It is very bad policy on the part of the Republican party to try to stuff them away in corners and cover them with the ' battle rlag," or with any other of the war paraphernalia. The people will not consent to see either a Poland or an Ireland created on this foil. It is not impossible to redress mistakos when they are discovered ; but to persist in those mistakes after discovery, and to protend that religión and morality require us to persist in them - this is a course which we certainly shall not take the responsibility of rocomending to the Itepublican or any other party- The Southern States aro not living under a fair or free government - so Mr. Eaton and many others allege. Wel], is the assertion trueV Look at South Carolina. The facts in reference to that State seem to be about as well established as any historical facts can be, and they amount to this - the negroes, assisted by rasotlly whites, have held a sort of grand orgie in the State for seveial years past, have swallowed up among them pretty nearly all the private property in the State, have ruined what may be called the native citizens even more thoroughly than the war had done, have robbed and harried like so many highwaymen, and have reduced the State to a condition which must shock every man who sees it or reads about it. The very Governor is a thief The Legislature a gang of thieves. Is this a " republican government " such ag the Constitution guarantees to all the States? We ventnre to say that it is not- that, on the contrary, it isa government of which the republio has every reason to be ashamed. No doubt the system introduced as a " war measure " into the South after the war - chiefly upon the advice of Senator Sumner and Thaddeus Stevens - was experimental ; but can we wonder that the people everywhere begin to ask how long the experiment is to last ? There should be at least sume signs of improvement visible as time goes on. Nine Years have passed sinoe the close of the war, and is South Carolina better governed than she was then ? She clearly is not so well governed as she was under a purely military rule. The same must be said, mutatis mutandis, of Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, and Arkansas. Now it is folly to suppose that the Republican party, as an organizition, will continue much longer to look on with much satisfaction at this great failure. The leaders of the present moment may not pay any attention to the subject, but if they do not other leaders will arise who will seo that justice is done. .Last week we all witnessed the United States Senate engaged for about twentyi'uur houis at a stretch in passing a bilí for tbe benefit of the negro merely out of a sentimental sort of deference to the wishes of a deceased Senator. Respect for the dead is incumbent on us all, but legislation should be based on a careful and a wise regard for the welfare of the living, uot upon "mandates," real or fictitious, of the doad. The negro has had a very fair araount of protection. It ig important before going any furtber to tind out what uso he has made of the freedom given to him ; in what way he has exercised the vast political powers with which he has been endowed ; what sort of a governinent he has helped to set up in States where he is the most powerful ; whether, in short, he at this moment stands in need of protoction from the white man or the white man stands in need of protection from him. If Mr. Eaton intends to raise these questions depend upon it ho will obtain an audience, and he cannot be suppressed by howisand groans, and we, for our part, shall not join in any such attempts at suppresion. We should like to see the question taken up by Republicans. Mr. Carpenter made a great beginning in reference to Ijouisiana. Suoh a work would be far more conducive to the prosperity of tho party and to the cause of good government now and hereafter than the headloug passage of sentimental bilis in t'iivor of the negro.

Article

Subjects
Old News
Michigan Argus